


Super Pack

by Triskel_Samulet



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Hale Fire (Teen Wolf), Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Claudia Stilinski Feels, Derek Hale Deserves Nice Things, Derek Hale is Bad at Feelings, First Kiss, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Burn, Stiles is a nice thing, Touch-Starved Derek Hale, Warning: Kate Argent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-07
Updated: 2020-09-16
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:49:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 14,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26333641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Triskel_Samulet/pseuds/Triskel_Samulet
Summary: Found the prompt "Years before you were born the public use of superpowers was outlawed by the government. Powers were rare to begin with, but now almost no one ever hears about them. You don’t even believe they ever existed until the high school bully throws a punch at you and breaks his hand on contact" and was inspired.Stiles was convinced superheroes didn't exists... well until he accidentally breaks his bully's hand on his face. Now he finds himself a part of a pack of fellow supers lead by a very hot and very mysterious man.
Relationships: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Past Derek Hale/Paige - Relationship, Past Laura Hale/Kate Argent - Relationship
Comments: 44
Kudos: 169





	1. No Longer a Legend

Stiles grew up hearing the legends of the superheroes of his grandparent’s day. That was the last generation of great heroes before powers were outlawed and the people were forced into hiding. His father would sometimes talk of rumors he heard as a kid of some super powered vigilante popping up or a kid in some school coming into his or her powers and then disappearing shortly there after. Now there are no stories of supers, and Stiles is convinced legends are all they ever were. There was no way super powers were real. If they were, where did they come from? No, super powers were not real.

But if they weren’t real, then why did Theo’s hand break when he punched Stiles? The bully had been going after them since Stiles and his dad transferred to Beacon Hills. Stiles never knew why, but figured it was because he was a loner and therefore and easy target. But now Theo’s hand was broken and Stiles had barely felt the punch and everyone was staring. He had to get out of there before he was reported. He needed to talk to his dad, which was ironic because that would be the same thing as turning himself in to the police.

He ran out of school and got to the jeep, not caring that it was only lunch. He knew his dad had the night shift this week, so he should be home. Stiles parked the car and ran into the house to find his dad sitting in the recliner watching the Mets game he recorded last night.

“Where’s the fire, kiddo?” His dad asked, taking in his son’s panicked expression, “Why are you home so soon?”

“Theo punched me.” Stiles’ dad knew about the bullying, but Stiles insisted he should handle it alone. It was his senior year and he’d be on his own for college. This was a good trial run.

The Sheriff got up quickly and started checking his son for injuries, “Where? Are you bleeding? I don’t care what we agreed to, I am marching down to that principal’s office and reporting that son of a bitch and then I’m going to arrest him for assault and battery.”

“Actually I’m the one you should arrest.” His dad gave him a confused look, “Theo punched me in the face and instead of hurting me… Theo’s hand is broken.”

Understanding came across his father’s face.

“I’m not going to arrest you, kid. You didn’t know you could do that. Every super gets one freebee.”

Relief washed Stiles, his dad was taking this news surprisingly well. There was no shock or worry, only understanding. It was almost like… wait a second…

“Are you…” he couldn’t finish the question. This may not have been a shock for his father, but it was a shock for him.

“Let me make a quick call to the station so they can implement a memory reassignment for the school, then we’ll talk.”

Stiles nodded even though those words didn’t quite process Law enforcement helped supers hide? He sank onto the couch. Nothing was making sense. Was he going to have to go into some witness protection where they would give him a personality that wouldn’t make people want to punch him? Would he be placed in a secret underground prison and never get to see his dad again?

“Alright, kiddo,” his dad said, “You are all set. Tomorrow at school no one will remember you are a super, with a few exceptions, of course.”

“Exceptions?” Stiles asked. The thought of anyone other than his dad knowing what he was scared him.

“There is a group here in town, they call themselves ‘The Pack.’ They are the reason we moved here. I knew if you were to have powers you would be coming into them soon, so I wanted there to be a group of other supers you could hang out with and not have to hide.”

“But how…”

“Your mother was a super.” His dad explained, “She had an extraordinary green thumb, as you remember, but she could also talk to the plants and control them.” The sheriff had a smile on his face. It was one of longing while also being joyful and loving. After ten years, the man was still deeply in love with Claudia and it made Stiles’ heart ache for his mother. “There was a fifty-fifty chance you would take after her. She had an old friend in Beacon Hills named Claudia who ran a kind of home for wayward supers. After Claudia died, I decided I would take you here around the time the average super’s powers develop. Talia would be able to help you more than I could. But after we got here, I learned Talia and her family burned in a fire. Hunters found the home. Her son survived, though, and he’s the leader of the pack. If he is anything like his mother, he will help you understand your powers and how you can fit in this hateful world.”

Stiles teared up at the mentions of his mother, but was looking forward to meeting the pack. It would be nice to meet others like him, especially one that could relate to his loss.

“When will I meet them?” Stiles asked, his apprehension and happiness somehow both getting through to his father.

“I’ll call them up and have one of them meet you at the parking lot tomorrow. Most of them are seniors, like you, since most supers get their powers around eighteen. After school you’ll probably all go over to Derek’s where you can talk freely about everything. Remember, no talking about super stuff at school and try not to piss someone off so much that they punch you.”

Stiles and his dad both laughed at that. Most people didn’t know how to handle Stiles’ overly talkative nature and his natural curiosity (read: nosiness) often got him in a lot of trouble.

“I’ll try, but no promises.”

The rest of the day the two Stilinskis talked about Claudia and her lineage as a super. His dad regaled the story of how he found out she was a super. That had Stiles laughing, it was so much like the fun loving mother that he missed so much, but also seemed like something he would do.

That night Stiles went to bed with a smile on his face for the first time in a long time. He was excited for tomorrow and all the excitement it would bring. Since most of the pack were in his class, he would probably have friends at school, or at least people to have lunch with. He fell asleep and dreamed of a world where supers no longer needed to hide.


	2. Meet the Pack

When Stiles woke up his dad was still at work. There was a note on the table assuring Stiles that no one other that the pack would remember what happened yesterday and Theo would think he broke his hand during lacrosse practice. There were also instructions to destroy the note, so Stiles did before he left for school.

When he arrived and got out of his jeep there was a happy guy with a crooked jaw bounding up to him.

“Hi! You must be Stiles!” the guy said, “I’m Scott. It’s so great to meet you! I know you’ve been here for a few weeks and I haven’t introduced myself, but my friend group and I tend to keep to ourselves, if you catch my drift.”

“No, man. It makes sense.” Stiles responded. He liked this guy’s energy and it seemed like they would be fast friends, even though he didn’t know where that was coming from. “I’m glad to be meeting people now, though.”

They smiled at each other and started walking inside.

“Your dad sent over your schedule so we would know who was in what class with you. I’m in your first period English class. You have AP chem. with Lydia and Danny. They are both so smart, a lot of what they say goes over my head, but I think you’ll get along with them. Spanish is with Danny, Jackson, and Allison, my girlfriend. Lunch is with all of us. History with me, Jackson, and Lydia, and AP calculus with Lydia and Danny, again. Like I said, they are geniuses.”

Stiles nodded, trying to follow, but it was hard with so many new names and no faces to go with them. He noticed the dopey smile Scott got when he mentioned his girlfriend. He was happy Scott had someone who made him feel like that, but it made him long for something like that for himself. However that feeling quickly faded.

“Sorry, I could feel you were a little down,” Scott quickly glanced around to make sure no one was listening, “Decided to give you a little empathic boost.” Scott gave him a wink and then they were walking into class.

After English he was commandeered by an intimidating redhead whom he had been admiring from afar these past few weeks.

“My name is Lydia Martin, but you probably already knew that.” She said, “I am the queen bee at this school and I’m also going to be valedictorian, so don’t get any ideas about one upping me. Also, I have a boyfriend who does not play well with others, so don’t get any ideas.” When they got to the chemistry classroom she looked him up and down, “I think we could become great friends. Now come on, you are my new lab partner. All Danny wants to do is flirt with cute guys during class and I need someone who will focus.”

She led him to a worktable that already had a Hawaiian boy sitting there, “Danny, this is Stiles, my new lab partner. Go join that guy you’ve been ogling and see if you can get a date.” Lydia said.

Danny obediently got up and gave Stiles a quick “good luck” before joining a cute guy in the front of the class.

“Wow, people really listen to you,” Stiles said, “Is that your…” Stiles trailed off and looked around. Everyone seemed engrossed in what they were doing, so he didn’t think anyone was listening.

“Oh, no. I’m much scarier than that.” Lydia said and Mr. Harris started class.

After class, Danny walked to Spanish with him, since they were both in that class and he was introduced to Jackson, Lydia’s boyfriend, and Allison, Scott’s girlfriend. He and Danny got along, just like Scott said they would, and Allison was a sweetheart, just like her man, but Jackson was an asshole, much like Stiles himself, but they just rubbed each other the wrong way. Hopefully spending time together would turn it into fun banter instead of straight out assholery. 

The rest of the day went much the same, but with different combinations of people. He learned that there were four others in the pack that were the same age as Derek and they would be hanging out at the loft after school with the rest of them. Their names were Erica, Isaac, Boyd, and Jordan. Apparently they had been at a party with Derek the night the hunters came through town and had supported him through that. They also helped Derek build the pack. Stiles was eager to meet everyone.

After school, Scott and Allison joined Stiles in the jeep to help him navigate to Derek’s loft. Lydia and Danny both rode with Jackson in his porsche and they led the way.

It was an old, industrial loft in the warehouse district and from the outside hardly seemed inhabitable. The inside didn’t look any better. The elevator was out so they had to trudge up the stairs to the top floor where Derek lived. Surprisingly, no one complained, not even Lydia in her high heels, so Stiles figured this must be the norm. At the top, there was a large steel door that squeaked loudly when they opened it.

Inside the loft was kind of bland. There was a living room area that Stiles could tell Lydia got her hands on because that was the only place fully furnished. Everything else was sparsely decorated, there was a hole in the wall between the living room and the kitchen, and there was a mattress shoved in the corner. Not very homey if you asked Stiles.

“Ooo! You brought the newbie!” A scary looking blond said before she ran up and enveloped Stiles in a big hug. He didn’t think anyone could be scarier than Lydia, but this woman was giver her a run for her money.

“Um, hi?” The others had been nice, but no one (not even Scott) had been this affectionate with him.

“So, what can you do?” She asked.

“Erica, that’s rude.” Came a voice from behind her.

Stiles looked past Erica to try and find the owner of that voice and WOAH! This guy had dark hair and muscles that were hidden under a henley and a leather jacket. He was wearing gloves despite being inside and he had to be the hottest man Stiles had ever seen.

“Um, I don’t mind.” Stiles said. Erica led him to the couches before encouraging him to go on. Once everyone was seated he started, “I’m not exactly sure what all I can do. A guy did break his hand on my face, though, so I’m going to go out on a limb and say I’m invulnerable? I haven’t really tested it though.”

“I’m Erica and I’m a cat.” Stiles gave her a questioning look, but she offered no further explanation. She curled up next to a black man next to her, “This is my boyfriend, Boyd. He freezes things.” Boyd glared at her.

“Erica, you don’t share other people’s powers, even if it’s your boyfriend’s.” The leather clad man said. With the way he was talking to Erica, Stiles guessed this must be Derek.

“So is there a whole new etiquette I have to learn for being a super?” Stiles asked, which was a fair question. Based on context he gathered it is impolite to ask for someone else’s abilities or to tell what someone else’s abilities are. If these rules exist, it was fair to assume others did to.

“What.” Derek said.

“You’re talking like Erica breached some super etiquette or something and my super parent died ten years ago and isn’t around to teach me this stuff, so is there anything else I need to know other than don’t ask for someone else’s powers and don’t offer up someone’s powers?”

Derek gave him a constipated look before leaving the room and going up the spiral staircase to the second floor.

Erica shrugged, “He’ll come around.”

“Let’s figure out if you’re really invulnerable.” Lydia changed the topic.

“But I don’t want to accidentally die testing it out.” Stiles insisted.

Lydia gave him a scrutinizing look before her eyes turned white and then returned to normal, “You won’t.” Was all she said.

“Okay, so how do we do this?” A wicked smirk came across Erica’s face and she lifted her hand and flicked her wrist. Out came cat claws that were not there before.

“Oh, you’re a cat.” Stiles said, quite eloquently.

“You don’t know the half of it. Now give me your arm.” Stiles obeyed and gave his arm to Erica. He could tell that it would be dangerous to tell the girls in the pack “no.” She took one of her claws and tried to scratch Stiles.

“Oh! I broke a nail!” She yelled. Stiles looked at his arm to see there was no mark where her claw had been, “These claws can cut threw metal, but I can’t give you a light scratch!”

“Cool!” Stiles said.

“My turn!” Allison said. She grabbed Stiles and positioned him so they were standing across the room from each other. She pulled a throwing knife out of her boot.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. No one said anything about knives.” Stiles protested.

“Don’t worry. I’m proficient in every weapon and have perfect aim. This isn’t going to kill you it’s going in your thigh.”

“You know, my thigh is close to other things that you might hit if you miss.” Stiles insisted.

“Then I won’t miss.” Allison added with her adorable, dimply smile. Stiles moved his hands to cover his dick and then nodded that he was ready. Allison threw her knife at his leg and she was right, she did have perfect aim. But that didn’t matter because the knife shattered on contact.

“Let’s try a more vital area.” Allison smiled.

The day went on like that, Boyd tried freezing him, Jordan Parish, one of his father’s deputies who was also in the pack, tried burning him, they even stuck Stiles hand down the garbage disposal. That was the last straw. Derek heard the noise and saw what was left of it and kicked everybody out, which, in all honesty, was fair. Stiles was going to have to find a way to replace that for him.

When he got home his dad was getting ready to leave for work.

“How was your day, kiddo?” He asked.

“It was great. The pack is really nice, but I still haven’t met Isaac. I don’t know what all of them can do. Apparently it’s taboo to ask. Also I broke Derek’s garbage disposal… But yeah, it was a good day.”

His dad gave an exasperated sigh and looked up at the sky as if to say, “Why did I get stuck with this one?”

It put a smile on Stiles’ face. Despite everything changing, life was still somehow normal.


	3. Pack Night and Pack Fights

Stiles was excited. It was Friday and the pack was having a movie night/sleep over at the loft. The movies hadn’t been decided yet, but he was hoping for a Star Wars marathon. Apparently Scott had never seen them and that was a crime against humanity. He packed his overnight bag and sleeping bag in the trunk of the jeep before heading off for school.

Since joining the pack, he was never alone at school and it was so nice. There was no chance for Theo to antagonize Stiles, but that didn’t stop the glares the other boy sent his way. Stiles decided to just ignore him and move on with his life. He finally had a place to fit and not even the jerk who tried to break his nose for no reason would changed his new, positive attitude.

Stiles was probably going to be last one to arrive at the loft. They were each assigned something to bring and, while everyone else planned ahead, Stiles still needed to buy the popcorn he signed up for. He decided to kill two birds with one stone by getting the popcorn at a gas station. He filled up his car, and then went inside for the rest of his purchase. When he came out, Theo was leaning on his jeep. Stiles opted to ignore him as he went to put the bags of popcorn in the trunk with the rest of his supplies for the night.

“Hey, Jerkface.” Theo said.

Stiles rolled his eyes and continued to ignore Theo as he closed the trunk and moved to the driver’s side. Theo, however, had other ideas and grabbed Stiles shoulder and pulled him back.

“Look at me when I’m talking to you.”

“I’m looking at you now and you aren’t saying much.” Stiles responded. He knew he was pushing his luck, but he wasn’t going to let Theo get to him.

“I know what you did.” What the hell was Theo talking about? Stiles hadn’t done anything since getting to town other than laying low and then befriending the pack. “You broke my hand.”

Stiles was panicking now. How did Theo remember that? Jordan had lead the deputies in the mind wipe and his father assured him no one remembered. School was calm. No on knew what he was.

“You broke your hand in a lacrosse accident.” Stiles said slowly, trying to regain his footing.

“Lacrosse doesn’t shatter the bones, Stilinski.” Theo pushed him against the back of the jeep, “You see, my aunt is a deputy and was sent out on a mind wipe. Made sure she was assigned to me. Said I deserved to know what happened.”

Now Stiles was really panicking. Theo knew what he was and there was a leak at the station. Beacon Hills was supposed to be a haven to keep supers safe and as long as Theo and his family were here.

“My aunt thought she took care of the problem in this town nine years ago. Now tell me, who else is like you?”

Stiles felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. Hunters. He thought about what he could do in this situation and then he realized his advantage.

“There’s one problem with you plan, Theo.” Theo looked at him in confusion before shoving him against the jeep again, “You can’t threaten someone you can’t hurt.”

Stiles kneed Theo in the balls and shoved him away. He ran for the jeep door, but Theo grabbed his ankle and pulled him down.

“I’ll find a way to hurt you, Stilinski.” Theo said just as Stiles saw a blur of movement. Before he knew it, he was in the passenger side of the jeep holding multiple boxes of pizza and there was a guy with blond, curly hair in the drivers seat, getting them away from Theo.

“Hi, I’m Isaac, we haven’t met yet.” The curly haired gut said.

“I’m Stiles. Thanks for the save.” 

“No problem, but you should tell the pack and your dad about whatever the hell that was.” Stiles nodded his agreement.

At the loft, Stiles got his dad on speaker and told them all about Theo and the hunter in the department. He also mentioned that whoever this deputy was, she was responsible for something bad that happened nine years ago.

“The fire.” Boyd murmured.

Derek briefly looked like a kicked puppy before he schooled his expression and disappeared upstairs.

“Wait, the fire that destroyed the house…” Stiles couldn’t bring himself to finish.

“And all the supers inside, yes.” Lydia finished. She was never one to mince words, “Derek finds it hard to talk about or to be around anyone when it’s brought up.”

“That’s totally understandable. He lost his whole family and friends in that fire.” Stiles said, “Nine years ago, he was sixteen. He wouldn’t have even had his powers yet.”

“Derek did.” Isaac said, “He was an early bloomer. He’d had his powers for about a year before the fire.”

That shocked Stiles even more, but it made him happy in a way. At least he had family to help him understand what was happening. His family knew that he could do… whatever it was that he could do. Stiles would have loved for his mother to know what Stiles’ power was. She died not even knowing if Stiles was a super.

He could feel the melancholy mood start to lighten and gave Scott a knowing look. The other boy just shrugged and said, “What movie are we watching?”

The following argument made Stiles smile. After the weirdness of earlier, he was enjoying the normalcy of this. He just wished one more person would join them. He got up under the guise of going to the bathroom, but everyone was too engrossed in movie selection to notice him sneak upstairs.

What he saw on the top level astounded him. The entire level was a library full of first editions and what looked like personal journals. He spent some time looking through some of the titles and knew he was going to be spending a lot more time here. He found Derek sitting on a window seat on the far side of the room.

“Hey.” Stiles was nervous. This was his first time alone with Derek. Despite the echoes of the argument downstairs, this was an undeniably private moment.

Derek grunted in acknowledgement. He moved to sit next to Derek, but he noticed the other man tense.

“Don’t sit there.” He said gruffly, “Please.” Was added later.

Stiles grabbed an armchair and pulled it over.

“Want to talk about it?”

“No.” Stiles nodded.

“I was eight when my mom died.” Stiles said, “Frontotemporal dementia. By the end of it she didn’t even know who I was and she said some harsh things to me. Told me it was my fault that she was dying. I didn’t take it personally, it was the disease.”

He hadn’t been looking at Derek when he started this story, but he looked up to see if he was listening. Derek was looking at him with puppy dog eyes and drawn eyebrows, as if he couldn’t understand why Stiles was telling his tragic backstory.

“I didn’t know she was a super,” Stiles continued, looking right into Derek’s eyes, “My dad knew, but she kept it a secret from me. I think I understand though, I can’t seem to shut up most of the time. I should have figured it out, though. Her garden thrived, even in the off-season, and despite the dementia the flowers in her hospital room never wilted. When dad told me, it made sense.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Derek whispered.

“You seem to be carrying all this grief and all these burdens by yourself and, I guess, I wanted you to know you aren’t alone.”

A silence hung over them and they sat in it. Both processing what had been said. Stiles had never told the whole story to anyone before, not even his dad knew of the things mom had said in the end. But Derek needed to hear it.

Through the silence, they could tell the argument downstairs had ceased and a movie was playing in the background.

“Do you want to see what movie they picked?” Stiles asked.

“Knowing Lydia, she strong armed them into watching The Notebook again.”

Stiles laughed and got up. He reached out a hand to help Derek up, but he just stared at it.

“I don’t… I can’t touch people.” Derek said.

“You’re wearing gloves, you won’t be touching me.” Stiles responded. He didn’t know if it had to do with Derek’s powers or if it was a trauma response, but everyone needed human contact, even if it wasn’t skin to skin.

Derek hesitantly reached up and grasped Stiles hand. He looked at Stiles as if he expected the other man to break, but Stiles wasn’t that breakable, he had recently learned. Downstairs, they saw that, yes, Lydia won and The Notebook was playing on the TV.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, Kate is Theo's aunt (not Allison's). Kate also did not physically, emotionally, or sexually abuse Derek in this AU. She is still a terrible person, though.


	4. Journey to the Past

The next week found Stiles at the local diner with Erica, Boyd, Isaac, Scott, and Danny. What he thought of as a friendly Saturday lunch quickly turned into an ambush.

“So, Scott tells us you have feelings for Derek.” Stiles’ eyes went wide at Isaac’s words.

“Um, are you sure we should be talking about this… in that way?” Stiles asked, trying to deflect from his feelings.

Danny pulled a contraption out of his pocket, “This is an invention of mine that deflects sound waves. No one is going to be able to overhear this conversation.”

Stiles nodded and once he had processed that, he gave Scott a quick kick in the shins.

“Total invasion of privacy, dude!” Stiles said as Scott said, “Ow!”

“Scott can’t help what he feels just like you can’t help shattering bones or metal on contact.” Danny said and that was fair, but he didn’t have to like it.

“Now,” Erica said, “These feelings for Derek, what kind of feelings are we talking about?”

“Well,” Stiles swallowed, “He is attractive. It was the first thing I noticed about him, so it started as attraction and quickly became a crush. But, I’ve noticed things about him. He goes out of his way to make sure no one is uncomfortable and he will defend this pack no matter what. I saw that look in his eyes when I was telling you guys about Theo; he was ready to go after him before the whole fire thing came to light. He seems like a wonderful man and I want to get to know him better because I think it would be really easy to fall in love with him.”

“I saw you sneak upstairs last week,” Boyd said, “What did you two talk about?”

“I told him about my mom. I wanted him to know he was not alone.” Stiles paused, waiting for the next question, but none came.

“I know we aren’t supposed to ask about powers, or whatever, so I’m sorry if this goes over the line,” Stiles started, “but what is Derek’s issue with touch? Is it trauma or does it have to do with his ability?”

They all exchanged looks, trying to decide how to answer him.

“I’ll leave the device with you guys,” Danny said, “Scott, let’s go.” Scott and Danny both left a few bills on the table and left the diner.

“We are only telling you this because we think you could make Derek happy, so don’t make us regret this.” Erica was scary. He was getting the shovel talk before he and Derek even asked each other out. Stiles nodded his understanding.

“Derek was fifteen when he came into his powers,” Isaac started, “He knew he came from a family of supers and there were usually two or three others living with them at a time as his mom, Talia, taught them control. There is no way to know what a person’s power will be. Sometimes it’s hereditary like in Lydia’s family, all the women on her father’s side have the same ability, but other times it’s completely random. Most of the time powers have something to do with who you are and other times a super’s power influences how they act. Long story short, there is no way to really know.”

“And here I thought I was the rambler in the group.” Stiles snorted. The three gave him expressions that clearly told him to shut up. Stiles mimed zipping his mouth and sat back for the rest of the story.

“In a family like Derek’s on a kid’s seventeenth birthday they start studying the different powers so that they can be ready when they reveal themselves the next year.” Isaac continued, “Laura, Derek’s older sister, had just been given the books with the potential powers she could potentially have. But like we told you earlier, Derek got his powers at fifteen. He was nowhere near ready.

“At the time, he had just started dating this girl at school named Paige. She had this sharp wit and loved life. She was Derek’s first love. They had kissed before and it was fine, but he didn’t have his powers then. One day he walked her to her door after their date and kissed her, but afterwards she couldn’t breath and her skin was turning grey. Eventually she started puking up this black goo as Derek yelled for help, but her parents were away that night, so no one came to the rescue. She died in his arms.

“That’s how Derek found out his ability is a deadly touch. Any skin contact with him and the other person dies just like Paige did. Now he covers himself as much as possible and keeps his distance with people. After the fire the following year he started being emotionally distant as well. It’s a miracle that he even lets the pack as close as he does.”

Stiles sat there thinking about what he had just learned. Derek had been through so much more than he thought. His pain and grief started a year before he lost his family and has followed him around ever since. Every day when he covered up his skin, it was a reminder of the life he accidentally took. Stiles heart ached for this man.

He had to think, too, would he even want to get in a relationship with a man who he could never touch, never kiss? Would he be content with a strictly emotional connection? He didn’t think it was necessarily a deal breaker, but he needed to consider it more because that could end up being a big commitment.

“We aren’t telling you this to scare you away,” Erica said, “But we needed you to know what you are getting into. Even though Derek wants a connection with someone and we think he likes you too, but he is going to fight you if you try to get closer and you need to decide if it’s worth the fight. We also wanted to let you know that if you choose to fight for Derek, we will back you up.”

Stiles nodded, “I think I need some time to process all of this, but I know Derek deserves someone who is going to show him just how much he is worthy of love. I need to figure out if I’m the one to give that to him.”

“We understand. Take your time.” Boyd added.

“How do you guys know this story so well?” Stiles asked, “Like the details of Paige…”

“Lydia.” Was all Erica said, “Her powers manifested that night. She’s the youngest we know of.” And that was… well that was just as intense as the rest of the story. Lydia would have been about nine when she saw that gruesome death.

Stiles took out his wallet and but a few bills on the table before heading out to his jeep. Neither Stiles nor the others in his group saw the two people on the opposite side of the diner watching them with frustration over the fact that they were unable to hear what was being discussed. The women took pictures of each of them while the young man wrote their names in his notebook.


	5. Decision Made

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is a list of pack members and their abilities:  
> • Stiles: Invincibility  
> • Derek: Kill on contact  
> • Scott: Empath (both sensing and giving emotions)  
> • Allison: Proficiency with every weapon   
> • Lydia: Banshee  
> • Jackson: Talk to and control snakes/some snake traits  
> • Danny: Technopath  
> • Erica: Catlike reflexes/claws controls/talks to cats  
> • Isaac: Super speed  
> • Boyd: Iceman  
> • Jordan: Human torch

Stiles knew he had a difficult decision ahead of him, but he didn’t want to make it alone. He decided to go to the one person who might actually be able to help and who would also be affected by this decision.

He went into the sheriff’s station with two homemade garden salads in hand. They weren’t nearly as good as the ones his mom used to make, but that was probably because she used her powers to get the best veggies.

He wanted to greet Jordan on the way to his dad’s office, but he found an intimidating yet attractive female deputy flirting with him. He gave Jordan a smirk and a wink before dipping into his dad’s office and closing the door behind him. He did not want anyone, even Jordan (especially Jordan) overhearing this conversation.

“Hey, daddio!” Stiles said, “I brought some salads for us to enjoy together!”

“You know I only liked your mother’s salads.” The sheriff said with an eye roll.

“Eat it, don’t eat it, whatever. I need to talk to you.” He decided beating around the bush wasn’t the right approach for this conversation.

“Did you hit someone with your car?” His dad asked.

“What? No!” Stiles shouted, “Why is your first assumption that I did something terrible?”

“Because I know you.” His dad gave him his signature ‘don’t bullshit me’ look and Stiles rolled his eyes.

“No, dad, I need relationship advice.”

After a pause, the sheriff asked, “Did you get somebody pregnant?”

“What? Dad, no. When would I have hooked up with someone? Who would I have hooked up with?” Stiles questioned, “Why do you always expect the worst?”

“Because I know you! I know you were spacing out during our safe sex talk.” His dad accused. 

“This has nothing to do with sex.” Stiles insisted, “If anything it involves vowing to never have sex… like ever.”

Now the sheriff was really confused. What type of relationship would Stiles get himself into that would involve a vow of abstinence? 

“Look, Dad, I know we’ve never talked about this, but I like guys in the same way I like girls.” Stiles explained.

“Well that makes sense,” the sheriff said, “You don’t dress like you would be fully gay.”

“That is rude and reinforces bad stereotypes!” Stiles yelled. He expected better from his father, especially right after he just came out to the man.

“I’m sorry, Stiles, you’re right.” He said, “This isn’t just about you coming out, right? There’s more you need to say?”

Stiles nodded, “I like this guy but he comes with a lot of baggage. Getting into a relationship with him… because of everything, I would need to be all in before anything started and I don’t know if I’m ready for that.”

“Who is he?” The sheriff asked.

“Derek.”

His dad nodded, “That is a lot of baggage, son. And the no sex thing makes a whole lot more sense now.”

“You know what he can do?” Stiles asked. Even though he knew this conversation needed to happen, he did not want to violate Derek’s trust by telling someone else what his ability was. It was a relief to know his dad already knew about Derek’s past.

“The sheriff is required to be aware of all supers in the area. I read his file.”

“Wait, everyone has a file? And Jordan still has a job here?” Stiles asked. He still didn’t completely understand exactly how the legality of all of this worked, but it was definitely more complicated than he initially assumed.

“Yes, everyone has a file, even you.” The sheriff responded, “And yes, Jordan can still be a deputy. Supers are still people. It’s just illegal to use your powers publically. I will say that Jordan is scrutinized more by those in the know whenever a super case comes up, but he is a good man and good at his job. There is no reason he should have to change his career path just because he gets a little hot sometimes.”

That caused Stiles to laugh, “I wouldn’t say he’s only hot sometimes.”

His dad feigned a gasp, “What about Derek? Two timing him already?”

This made Stiles laugh harder. Leave it to a Stilinski to make light of a serious conversation. Honestly, Stiles wouldn’t have it any other way and it was part of the reason he decided to come here.

“Okay, but in all seriousness, Derek.” His dad said, trying to get them back on topic.

“Derek.” Stiles repeated, “I thought it was just a crush, but Scott picked up on it and Isaac, Erica, and Boyd sat me down to give me the shovel talk and inform me about the seriousness of perusing a relationship with him.”

“I’ll start by saying this, when it comes to Derek, the age difference doesn’t bother me… mostly because I know nothing illegal would be happening between you two.”

“Dad!” Stiles interrupted as a blush crept up his cheeks. 

“Look,” His dad said, “In all honest I think you two would be good for each other. If you’re up for it, I say go for it.”

Stiles did decide to go for it. He texted Erica, Isaac, and Boyd his decision and told them to stay away from the loft that night. He went home and changed something nice, but not too nice. He didn’t want to scare Derek or make him suspicious. He was going to take this slow and WOO his man. After another quick look in the mirror and grabbing some ingredients from the kitchen he got back in his car and went to Derek’s loft.

When he made it to the top of the stairs, he was glad he went for a more casual look so that he wasn’t stuck with a sweaty dress shirt. She straightened out his clothes and made sure he wasn’t too sweaty before knocking on the door. He lifted his hand and made a fist, but stopped himself. In all the times he had been to the loft, none of the pack ever knocked. Even when it was unplanned everyone still just walked in as they pleased. With that in mind, Stiles opened the heavy metal door.

The sight waiting for him on the other side made him wish he had knocked, while also being so grateful he hadn’t. Derek was shirtless for the first time ever and he was doing pull ups. He had headphones in which made sense as to why he didn’t stop when the door squeaked open. When he noticed Stiles he stopped abruptly.

“Get out.” He growled with a panicked look in his eye.

Stiles looked him up and down before saying, “No, I don’t think I will.”

He made his way into the kitchen as if he lived there and started taking out the ingredients he brought.

“What are you doing?” Derek asked from the doorway.

“Well, I’m way ahead on school work, so I thought I could do some just for fun reading and remembered that wonderful library you have upstairs. Also, I didn’t want to just show up empty handed, so I thought I’d make a pie while I was here. Want to help?” Stiles said as if this was a normal, everyday thing he did. 

He didn’t want to pressure Derek into anything, so he figured taking it slow and just spending alone time together would be a good start. Without another word, Derek left Stiles to his own devices in the kitchen.

“Suit yourself.” Stiles muttered under his breath.

Stiles could hear the shower start and he wondered to himself if this was such a good idea. It was obvious Derek didn’t want him around, so why was he staying? Why was he trying so had to get the man’s attention?

He shook his head, trying to remove those thoughts from his head. He was here because Derek deserved someone and Stiles wanted to be that someone. He was going to keep showing up until Derek understood that.

Not much later the shower stopped and Derek appeared in the kitchen again, this time he was wearing his signature layers and gloves.

“Do you… need any… help?” Stiles could tell it was hard for Derek to do this, but it was an olive branch of sorts; a sign that Derek wanted to try, too. Well, to at least be cordial or maybe even friends. It was going to take a while, but looking at Derek in that moment, Stiles knew it would all be worth it.

“Yeah, sure,” Stiles responded with a smile, “Why don’t you cut the crust for the top. Make some cool pattern out of it, or something.” Derek nodded and started doing just that. They worked in silence, but it was a companionable silence that spoke of comfort and not awkward like they both had expected.

After the pie was in the oven they both went upstairs to read. Stiles expected the silence to continue, but then Stiles noticed the book Derek had picked off the shelves, “Rumble Fish.” He asked if it was any good and Derek balked at him. Derek ended up reading to Stiles. When the pie was ready, they paused to go grab a slice each and then went back upstairs where Derek continued to read to Stiles. He could listen to that voice for the rest of his life, he realized. Derek’s voice was a little higher than would be expected just from looking at him and Stiles loved it. There was something vulnerable about that voice. It made Stiles so content that he didn’t even realize he was drifting off until he woke up later, alone in the library, with a blanket draped over him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rumble Fish is by S.E. Hinton (author of The Outsiders). The book has themes of death, abandonment, and isolation.


	6. Theo Interlude

Ever since Stiles broke his hand, Theo had been watching him from the shadows. His aunt, Kate, made sure that he remembered exactly what happened that day. It was frustrating that he couldn’t talk to any of his teammate of his girlfriend, Tracy. She had even been the one he was defending when he punched the guy. He caught Stilinski staring one too many times and had had enough.

He had a high suspicion that all of Stiles’ new friends were freaks like him. Theo still hadn’t figured out which one sped off with Stiles the night of the confrontation. There were also the three others he and Kate had seen him with at the diner. They wrote down the names they knew and took pictures of the ones they didn’t. Kate told him that at the station there are files on every super in the county, but only the sheriff has access to them, but thanks to Theo she now had files of her own.

He just didn’t think it was fair that some people got to be so much more powerful than others. What was that one quote? “Absolute power corrupts absolutely.” That was the reasoning behind the laws against supers and the reason hunters like Kate exist.

Theo was different, though. He didn’t want to get rid of the powers, but learn how they came to be. He wanted to tear Stiles and his little friends apart until he figured out how to become super himself. If anyone deserved power, it was Theo. He was always coming in second, usually after the Whitmore boy (who was a super, how was that fair?) and it was his turn to be first. Theo was already corrupted absolutely, so he may as well get the absolute power that goes along with it.

Tracy didn’t understand what he was going through and he couldn’t tell her. It frustrated him to no end and he ended up taking it out on her. He didn’t beat her, but he was rougher than normal. Thoughts of Stiles and his unbreakable skin going through his mind. He wondered what the others could do. He wondered what he could do if he were a super and Tracy was still the helpless human that she was. He wanted that power so badly!

Through his obsession and what he’d seen in Kate’s notes he found a research facility that specialized in super experimentation. He armed himself with weapon’s from Kate’s stash and went to go get what he deserved. He was either going to come back more powerful than Stilinski and his friends or he wasn’t coming back at all.


	7. Lacrosse Love

Stiles loved his life and he wouldn’t change a thing. Well… maybe he’d change one thing and that would be Derek Hale’s ability and self-esteem. So… two things technically. 

It wasn’t that there was anything wrong with Derek. Stiles had been spending most of his free time at the loft either listening to Derek read or cooking or baking with the man. Sometimes the pack was there and they all settled on the couches to watch a movie. The nice thing was Derek would join them instead of escaping to the library. Granted he was on his own armchair, but progress!

The problem was how much WORK all of this was. He loved how domestic things were when it was just the two of them, but Derek never talked about himself and whenever he realized he was no longer keeping as much of a distance and he was used to, he would overcompensate. It was exhausting. 

Stiles was pondering his predicament while eating lunch with his friends when he heard someone yell, “Bilinski!”

Stiles looked around wondering 1) who was yelling and 2) did someone really have a last name that close to his?

“Yeah, you!” He saw Coach Finstock pointing to him before approaching their table, “Raeken’s disappeared on me and we need another player to be eligible for the playoffs tonight. You’re my new benchwarmer.”

He tossed a jersey at Stiles, “Um, thanks Coach, but why me?”

“You’re friends with my two best players and my best benchwarmer. You’ll fit right in.”

With that, Finstock walked off and Stiles turned back to his friends, his eyebrows pinching together as he tried to figure out what the hell just happened. Almost all the others just shrugged equally confused by what was going on. Well, it was all except Lydia who was texting someone, seemingly unperturbed by what had just transpired. She looked up and found everyone’s eyes on her.

“What? I’m telling Erica what happened. Someone has to get Derek to Stile’s first lacrosse game.” She said.

“He’s not going to come.” Stiles replied, “He hates people. Being in a crowd like that is going to give him so much anxiety and you all know it. No. Derek is not coming to the game that I’m not even playing in.”

Stiles got up, grabbing his backpack, tray, and jersey and left the cafeteria. He hoped the others would listen to him, but he knew it was a moot point to try and get Lydia and Erica to do anything other that their own plans.

He got out his phone and texted Derek, “Hey man. Lydia and Erica are going to try and wrangle you into going somewhere tonight. You do not have to go. Do not let them pressure you.” He hoped Derek would listen to him, but there was no way to know until later that night.

Stiles ran out of the locker room in full gear with the rest of the team. In all honesty, he thought it was going to be kind of fun sitting on the bench next to Scott. The other boy joined the team to try and impress Allison, but because of his asthma couldn’t actually play.

Stiles looked up at the bleachers and quickly located Lydia’s fiery hair. Next to her were the rest of the non lacrosse-playing members of the pack. He noticed they had made a kind of barrier between Derek and the rest of the fans in the stands. WAIT, DEREK?! 

Why are earth was Derek here? He knew how hard this was for the man. The other pack members told him that Derek never comes to games. Most of the time someone else does his grocery shopping and he did college all online and now works remotely in order to minimize contact as much as possible. But Derek came out to this game where the only difference was that Stiles was a part of the team. He wasn’t even playing, but Derek left the safety of his loft for Stiles.

He smiled and waved at the pack as his heart warmed inside his chest. Derek wasn’t there for lacrosse or the pack, but he was there for Stiles. Maybe his plan to woo Derek was working and Derek decided to woo him back. If that was the case, Derek was definitely succeeding. He had to look away because he noticed he was staring.

“I felt that.” Scott said, “You should ask him out already. Obviously he’s okay with leaving the loft for you.”

Stiles sighed, “I just don’t want to put him in a situation that would make him uncomfortable. I don’t want to pressure him, make him think we HAVE to go out. I like the domestic bubble we’ve made.”

“Yeah, but that’s not all relationships are,” Scott said, “You haven’t even told him that you like him. You need to at least do that. State your intentions. That doesn’t require going out, but I do think you guys should at some point.”

“You’re right,” Stiles conceded, “I’ll tell him tonight.”

The game was amazing. Danny only let two shots past him and Jackson scored the winning goal. When the game was over he went to the locker room to change out of his uniform then ran back to the field to try and catch Derek before he left. He knew the man would probably be the last to leave so he wouldn’t have to work his way through the crowd. 

Stiles ran up to the man to give him a big hug, but stopped himself at the last minute.

“Hey, you came.” Stiles said with a smile.

“It’s not every day that you get randomly recruited to sit on the lacrosse bench.” Derek smirked.

Seeing that look on Derek’s face, he couldn’t hold back anymore. He grabbed Derek around the waist and ducked his head so it rested on Derek chest. In this position he wasn’t touching any exposed skin. Derek was stiff and unmoving, so Stiles released him from the hug and stepped back.

“Sorry, if I… overstepped.” Stiles said.

“No, it’s fine,” Derek responded, “I’m just not… used to it, I guess. Just remember to be careful with me.”

“I know.” There was a pause in the conversation as Stiles tried to build the courage to say what he wanted to. Unlike their other silences this one was awkward, “There’s something I needed to tell you… I really like you in a… romantic way. I’ve been trying to woo you and in case you didn’t catch on before I just wanted you to know.”

“I know.” Derek reached out and grabbed Stiles hand in his own, gloved hand, “I don’t know at what point I caught on, but you aren’t subtle. I like you too, but I can’t give you everything that someone else could. I’m damaged and you deserve everything.”

“But I choose you.” Derek’s eyes were still unsure, but there was a smile creeping up his face, “Can I hug you again?”

Derek nodded and Stiles attached himself to the older man.

“You know, the only reason my dad approves of you is because you can’t give me everything.”

Derek let out a whole body laugh that Stiles could feel in his whole being. There was no way he was letting this go any time soon (both the relationship and the man currently in his arms.)


	8. Derek's POV

Derek wanted nothing more than to burry his face in Stiles’ hair, but he knew he couldn’t do that. Thoughts of Paige flashed through his mind as he moved his head farther away, yet held Stiles tighter. They were still on the field like that when Scott came bounding up to them. Derek could see Jackson and Danny hanging around in the background.

“Hey, the pack is going out to the diner,” Scott said, “Do you guys want to come?”

Stiles and Derek reluctantly let go of one another, but Derek kept a gloved hand on the small of Stiles’ back. This was the first contact he had with anyone in a long time and he wasn’t going to let that go so easily.

“Um… Well…” Stiles started. It was clear Stiles wanted to go, but he wanted to be with Derek and wasn’t sure how much more Derek could be around people.

“Alright,” Derek said, “But we aren’t getting a table in the middle of the diner. I need to be somewhere someone can’t accidentally brush up against me.”

Scott beamed at them and gave Stiles a little nudge before running back to Jackson and Danny, who were clearly his ride.

“I’ll see you guys there!” He yelled over his shoulder with a smirk. With that boys power he could never stay out of people’s business and it was clear he knew exactly what was going on between Stiles and Derek.

“So, did you drive here?” Stiles asked.

Derek laughed, “No. Erica drove. Wanted to make sure I didn’t chicken out of coming here. Can’t say I blame her. It’s been a while since I actually wanted to go out.”

Stiles gave him a shy smile, like he couldn’t believe this was happening. Derek had known what Stiles was trying to do, but to get confirmation that Stiles felt the same way. Stiles may not believe this was happening but Derek definitely couldn’t believe this was happening. He never thought he would find someone willing to be with him who could never truly touch another person or be touched, let alone that that person would be as amazing as Stiles.

“Great, then you can ride with me.” He grabbed Derek’s hand as they walked toward the parking lot, both of them with idiotic smiles on their faces.

When they arrived at the diner, there were a lot of happy faces looking at them. Obviously Scott had a big mouth to go with his invasive ability. Everyone was seated at a corner booth and that made Derek nervous. He didn’t want to be on the end because of the waiter, but he didn’t want to be that close to two people.

“Maybe I should just go.” Derek muttered. Stiles looked at him, his eyebrows pinching in confusion. He looked over at the table and Derek could see the exact moment everything clicked.

“Look at the side they left open for us,” Stiles said, “Allison would be on your other side, but she’s constantly leaning into Scott. There’s no chance of her accidentally touching your skin.” He squeezed Derek’s hand as if to say it would be okay. Derek nodded and they moved toward the table. Other than a soft smile from Erica, no one made a big deal about the fact that he was joining them. It made him feel like he was right where he belonged. Looking at the young man next to him just reinforced that feeling.

That feeling came crashing down when a female deputy came into the diner. She looked familiar, but he couldn’t quite place it. Stiles looked over to see who he was looking at.

“Oh,” he said, “I think that’s the deputy I saw flirty with Jordan a few weeks ago.” Jordan wasn’t with them that night, he and the sheriff both stuck at work. Derek tried to remember if Jordan had ever mentioned her, but only remembered a conversation about a woman harassing him.

“Do you know her name?” Derek asked.

The rest of the pack subtly looked over, curious as to who they were talking about.

“That’s Kate Raeken. My grandparents were really close to her parents. She and her brother were like siblings to my father because they were raised so close.” Allison said.

“Wait, Raeken? Like Theo’s aunt? Like the hunter mole at the station?” Stiles asked.

“Kate Raeken…” Derek said, trying to figure out why that name sounded familiar, “I think she started dating Laura shortly before the fire.”

Later that night when Derek was alone in his loft, he thought about the events of the day, his excitement about his new relationship shadowed by the revelation of his sister’s relationship with their family’s killer… her killer.

His emotions were in flux. He would see something in his apartment that reminded him of Stiles and think about how happy his parents would be for him and how much they would love the young man. But then thoughts of his parents inevitably led to thoughts of their death and then Laura and Kate would come to mind again. Why would Kate kill her girlfriend’s family and Laura along with them? Was it really a hunter going after a house of supers like he always thought, or was it a scorned lover thing? 

Kate and Laura started dating about a month before the fire. Laura was eighteen and recently came into her ability as a wolf shifter. She didn’t tell their family about her relationship with Kate because she was older, already out of college, and she didn’t want their family to worry. Derek only found out because he saw Kate pick her up after school when she was supposed to be going to cheerleading practice. After that, he became Laura’s confidant. Kate and Laura would sneak around any chance they got and Laura lost her virginity to Kate. She trusted the older woman completely, but Kate ended up being her undoing.

Nothing was making sense anymore. Well, one thing still made sense and that was Stiles. Now the whole thought cycle started up again. He went upstairs to the library and took one of the journals off the shelf and started to read. He was either going to get his mind off of everything (well, not Stiles) or he was going to get some answers. When sleep did finally take him it was to dreams of Stiles being trapped in the fire with his family and Kate laughing maniacally with a dead wolf at her feet while Derek was helpless to do anything.


	9. Theo Interlude II

Of the entire time Theo spent with the doctors, all he could remember was pain. He remembered seeing cages before the pain started. “That’s where we keep the subjects we study,” one of the doctors said. He smirked, thinking of these supposedly all-powerful beings now at the mercy of regular, ordinary scientists. It gave him a rush of something that he wanted to feel more of. 

It had been two weeks since Theo went to the researchers to become super, two weeks of unending, searing pain, and he had never felt so alive. The only thing left to do was a field test. He drove up to a familiar house in the middle of the night and climbed up a nearby tree to enter the bedroom window. He had done this so many times in the past that it was second nature now.

Tracy was asleep in her bed and Theo paused to admire his girlfriend. She was always so loyal, so loving. She would do anything for him and he loved that about her. He took one of his claws and moved a stray hair off her face so he could see her better. In this moment she looked almost innocent.

The movement caused her to stir in her sleep and she slowly blinked awake.

“Theo?” She asked.

“I’m here, baby.” Theo smirked back at her.

“Where have you been? Everyone’s looking for you!” 

Theo scoffed, “Oh, yeah. I bet they are all looking real hard. It doesn’t matter where I’ve been, but I learned something while I was away.”

“Theo, you aren’t making any sense.” Her face looked pinched. It was a pity to see her this way. It was a very unattractive look on her.

“You, my dear Tracy, are a snake.” Theo whispered in her ear, “And now I’m going to be one, too.”

He embedded his new claws into her chest with the intent to TAKE! Just like the doctors told him to do. He could feel the power rush through him. Scales came over half his face and his teeth turned to venomous fangs. He’d never felt so alive! He needed to tell Kate about the doctors so that she could know how euphoric it felt to be this superior.

When there was nothing new coming through his claws he released his ex-girlfriend. Tracy fell back onto her bed, pale and unmoving. But that wasn’t Theo’s problem. There was so much more power waiting for him.


	10. A Safe Place

Stiles was content. He was at the loft with Derek. He was doing his homework while the older man did his workout and Stiles had to say, the view was distracting.

“Stop staring.” Derek said as he continued his push-ups, “You need to get your homework done.”

“Then stop being distracting.” Stiles was smiling. The only thing that could make this day better would be able to actually touch those abs. Derek had the best abs and Stiles wanted to run his hands all over them… and his tongue… definitely his tongue. His thoughts were interrupted by his phone going off.

“Hey, daddio!” He answered.

“Stiles, Parish is on his way to the loft with the rest of the pack. There has been a development he’s going to brief you all on.” His dad said.

“Thanks for the heads up. How bad are we talking?”

“Very bad.” His dad hung up.

“You should put a shirt on,” Stiles informed Derek, “The pack is on their way. Something happened.”

Derek got up and went to rinse off after his workout. Stiles started putting away his school work that had been scattered across the couch and the coffee table. Slowly the pack started filtering in and Derek emerged in his signature layers and sat in his armchair. Stiles bristled a little at that. He had been hoping there would be more cuddling since their confession, but Derek was ultra careful and didn’t want Stiles to end up like Paige. Stiles understood, of course he did, but there had to be some middle ground. They figured that out with the hug on the lacrosse field!

Jordan looked at everyone to be sure they were all there before he started, “This isn’t easy to say, so I’ll just get to it. Tracy Stewart has been killed.”

“And why should we care?” Jackson asked. Stiles didn’t care for how blunt Jackson was, but he had to agree. Tracy was a human and Theo’s girlfriend. What did that have to do with them?

“We care because Tracy was like us. More specifically, like you Jackson. She was a snake and came from a long line of supers. She opted not to join the pack because she had enough of a support system at home and had no connections to this group. She also was not killed in a normal manner. Tracy’s powers were sucked out of her which caused her body to go into shock, leading to her death. There were no signs of forced entry and no signs of a struggle, suggesting she knew her killer. There’s a chance that this power sucker will go looking for more. We’re on lockdown until this guy is caught.”

“What do you mean ‘lockdown?’” Lydia asked with a raised eyebrow. It was clear she did not want this to interfere with her social life.

“We’ll stay here, only going out when needed. When we do go out, it’s in groups of three. Thankfully at school you all have classes together. No walking the halls alone.” Jordan answered.

Everyone started talking about sleeping arrangements, but Stiles was more focused on Derek. He could tell the older man was trying to school his facial expression, but Stiles could see how tense he had become. Stiles walked over and put a hand on his arm.

“Let’s go upstairs.” He whispered. Derek nodded and followed him up the spiral staircase. They both sat on the window seat and Stiles placed his hand over Derek’s gloved one. “What’s going on in that head of yours?” He asked. Stiles had learned early on not to directly call Derek out when he was feeling uncomfortable, so he just waited for Derek to tell him when he was ready.

“It’s just…” Derek started and stopped, “Everyone staying here is a lot. Don’t get me wrong, I love them and want them to be safe. I like being around them, but overnight for an unknown about of time… having to cover up all the time… never having time to unwind.”

“When the pack comes over, do any of them ever come up here?” Stiles asked once it was clear Derek was done talking.

“Only you.” Derek smirked and Stiles squeezed his hand.

“Then let this be a safe place. When it gets to be too much down there, come up here. I’ll even leave you alone if you need me to.”

Derek squeezed Stiles hand and answered, “I’ll never not want you with me.”

Stiles smiled, “Good, because I don’t think I could leave you alone if I tried.”

It was good that they only had one week of school before they had spring break, so they only had one week of having to make sure to move as a pack at school. It was a real pain, especially with lacrosse practice after school. Whenever they were out of the loft, Stiles kept an eye out for Theo. There was no confirmation that he killed Tracy, but he was the most likely suspect.

When he was at the loft, he spent most of his time in the library with Derek. They would spend their time either reading silently, reading to each other, or Stiles would pretend he wasn’t watching Derek workout. It was a fun time had by all except for one day early on when Derek was looking at something on his laptop and refused to let Stiles see it. Stiles acted like a baby and went downstairs to pout until Scott privately called him out on it and told him to go upstairs and make up.

The answer to this mystery came that Friday when everyone got home from school to a package outside the door with Derek’s name on it.

“Hey, babe?” Stiles called, “Did you order anything? There’s a package for you!”

Derek ran up and grabbed the package before running upstairs, “Wait down here!” He yelled as he retreated upstairs.

“Seems like someone has a surprise for you!” Sing-songed Erica.

“Do you know what it is?” Stiles asked, eagerly.

“Nope, but I’m guessing it’ll take him about fifteen minutes to get it out of the package and wrap it.” She said with a wink and then sauntered into the kitchen. Stiles decided to follow her in there and grab a snack for his wait. He was the worst with waiting and after ten minutes the pack (especially Jackson) were all begging Stiles to just go see what was going on.

When he made it up the stairs, Stiles doubled over laughing. He could not believe what he was seeing. Derek Hale was on the floor attempting and failing to put on a morph suit. It was the single most ridiculous thing Stiles had ever seen.

“What… the hell… are you… doing, Derek?” Stiles asked between bouts of laughter. He found that it was easier to stop laughing if he didn’t look at Derek, which was hard to do because looking at Derek was one of his favorite things.

Derek was blushing hard as he said, “I thought if I was completely covered that we could… cuddle more.”

Stiles laughing ceased immediately and he gasped, “That is the sweetest, most romantic thing I have ever heard!” He crawled toward Derek, stopping just short of touching him.

“Yeah, it would have been.” Derek grimaced, “I think their size chart was wrong.”

“Well, you do have a lot of muscles to consider.” Stiles smirked.

“Stop objectifying me.” Derek growled, but Stiles could tell he appreciated the compliment.

“You know,” Stiles started, “I do like this idea because I really do want to cuddle you, but I don’t like the fact that I won’t be able to see your face.”

“How about this,” Derek suggested, “I return this for the next size up and you print out your favorite picture of me and you tape it to my face.”

Stiles smiled, “I think that’s a good compromise.”

Not too long after that the right morph suit arrived Stiles and Derek were snuggled up under the widow seat and Stiles was reading to Derek when something crashed through the window above their heads. Glass came raining down on top of their heads as they dove for cover. Stiles looked at what had been thrown as saw it was starting to smoke. Stiles eyelids started feeling heavy. He tried to fight off sleep but eventually it overtook him. The last thing he saw was… a woman with a blue face and green eyes?


	11. Torture

Stiles woke up and found himself in a cell. The cell only took up one corner of the room. Outside of it, Stiles could see a section of an electric fence, a surgeon’s table with restraints, and a lot of torture devices There was a bog, sliding metal door on the opposite side of the room similar to the one in the loft. Inside the cell there was Derek and a small toilet. Wait, DEREK!

Stiles rushed over to Derek and knelt down next to him. Derek’s head was bleeding, and it didn’t look like it was going to stop soon. Stiles stripped off his shirt and used it to apply pressure. He moved Derek’s head, so he was cradling it in his lap.

“You’re going to be okay, Derek. You’re going to be okay…” Stiles kept repeating this over and over again until he heard the squeak of the door opening. He looked over and saw the woman with the bluish face and the glowing green eyes and Theo.

“What’s going on?” Stiles asked, “Why have you taken us?”

“Plan A was to seduce the deputy,” the weird looking woman who must be Kate said, “Theo, here, came up with plan B and I gotta say, I like it.” Kate smiled with too many teeth.

“Care to tell me what this plan B is?” He was hoping for some sort of real-life villain monologue to give him time to wake Derek up and get out of there.

“Theo is going to go steal the powers of your friends while I find your weakness.” She glanced at all the torture equipment, “Taking the Hale boy was an opportunity we couldn’t pass up. It’s not like Theo can touch him to take his power. Here, he can’t interfere. We’ll just let him slowly starve to death. We have no need of him.”

While Kate spoke, Stiles did the calculations in his mind. They couldn’t hurt him, that was the whole reason he was there. He looked at Derek and noticed his head wound stopped bleeding. If he waited until Theo left, he could try to make a run for it. It would be one on one, but he had no clue what happened to Kate to make her look so… THAT! Whatever it was could be some sort of performance enhancer. If he took Derek with him, there was no way they would outrun Kate… Unless…

“So, you’re both super hunters, but have abilities?” Stiles asked, trying to buy time before the torture started.

“I know a guy.” Theo said, whatever that meant. He and Kate exchanged a look before he left the room.

Kate moved to grab something that was leaning against the wall. A cattle prod. Stiles moved so Derek wouldn’t get hit when he did and then he felt… nothing. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. He felt something like a soft tickle moving through his entire being.

“Was that supposed to do something?” Stiles asked. Kate turned up the dial and tried again, “Did you think that would work?” Stiles taunted. This was probably a very bad idea. Each time she tried, and he taunted, he moved closer and closer to the door of the cage. Finally, he was standing right in front of her. When she shoved the cattle prod at him, he dodged it and grabbed it from her before turning it around on his attacker. 

She was knocked down, but not out, “Let us go.” Stiles demanded.

“Never.” Kate breathed. She hit her with the cattle prod again. This time it did knock her out. He saw a key ring peeking out of her pocket. He tried to grab it, but found it was just out of reach.

After trying and failing to get the keys, Stiles started angerly pacing the cell. He let his frustration out by punching the bars… and then he stopped. There was an indent in the bars that matched his fist perfectly. He turned his attention to the door and started punching and punching and punching until finally the door opened.

He slung Derek’s arm around his shoulder and put his around Derek’s waist and started moving both of them out of the cell. He picked up the cattle prod and gave Kate one more shock to make sure they had enough time to get away. After leaving the torture chamber, Stiles came to a hallway with an old stairwell at the end of it. Going up the stairs with Derek’s dead weight was slow going, but he eventually made it to the top and opened the door to find he was inside an old burnt-out shell of a house.

Kate and Theo are some cold-hearted bitches for imprisoning them under what must be Derek’s childhood home. Stiles didn’t imagen there were too many burnt out houses in or around Beacon Hills. The house was in the middle of the preserve, so Stiles got a reasonable distance away before he put Derek and the cattle prod down and feeling his pockets for his phone. It obviously wasn’t there because their captors were smart.

He picked Derek back up and kept moving. He hoped he was headed in the right direction. He knew nothing about the preserve and he really could use Derek’s help right now. He lay the man down again and cradled his head.

“Come on, Derek. I need you.” He said. He started shaking the man’s shoulders, but that did nothing. He needed something drastic, “Alright here goes nothing.” He said to no one in particular before he went in for the kiss. Suddenly the lips under his were moving in response and it was so nice until they suddenly stopped.

Stiles pulled back and saw Derek’s shocked expression.

“You kissed me.” He said.

“Nothing else was waking you up.” Stiles replied, simply.

Derek’s eyes were starting to look misty, “You kissed me and you aren’t dead.”

Stiles let out a strangled laugh, “Yeah. Out of panic I started tending to your bleeding head. Eventually figured it out. I’m invincible, remember? Guess we make a pretty good pair.”

Derek smiled and leaned up, capturing Stiles’ lips for a real kiss this time. There were no fireworks, the world didn’t seem to disappear until it was just them, but it was perfect because this was something neither of them expected to ever have. While the kiss wasn’t earth shattering, what it represented was.

As much as Stiles hated to do it, he pulled away from the kiss, but Derek’s lips followed him, attaching themselves to his jaw.

“As much as I’m loving this and I really, really am,” He let out a moan as Derek found a particularly sensitive spot, “We have to get out of here before Theo kills all our friends.”

Derek stopped his kissing, “Why didn’t you lead with that?” He asked before examining the terrain and grabbing Stiles’ hand to lead them out of the preserve.


	12. Showdown

Derek and Stiles emerged from the preserve right outside the loft just in time to hear a piercing scream coming from inside. The two of them bounded up the stairs to see the door to the loft had been ripped open. They ducked as a fireball came through the open door.

“Stay here.” Stiles whispered to Derek, sounding way more confident than he felt. The inside of the loft was total chaos. Scott, Allison, Boyd, and Erica were scattered around the loft, paralyzed, Isaac was nowhere to be found, Lydia was in the corner hallucinating, and Jordan and Jackson were trying to fight off Theo while Danny was hiding and trying to build some contraption that would presumably help.

Half of Theo’s face was covered in scales and he had an equally scaley tail, which was new. He also had a menacing, clawed hand. Based on his movements, it was clear to Stiles that Theo was trying to get to Allison, which made sense. If he could get her power, then anything he got his hands on could be a lethal weapon.

Jackson was blocking his way, looking very similar to Theo, except the scales covered all of him. He had a few gashed, as if Theo had tried and failed to paralyze him. Jordan was off to the side, throwing fireballs at Theo whenever it was deemed safe.

Stiles looked around for something he could use as a weapon and noticed a piece of loose pipe on the opposite side of the loft. He made a run for it, dodging fireballs along the way. He finally slid home and grabbed the pipe. He looked around and made eye contact with Jordan. He held up the pipe, trying to communicate his intentions. Jordan nodded.

Stiles began to slowly creep up behind Theo, not wanting to alert him to his presence. He reached his target and got ready to swing when suddenly there was a hand around his throat and a clawed hand against his chest. Theo had a crazed look in his eyes.

“Maybe I will start with you.” He said before trying to dig his claws into Stiles’ chest. Stiles expected to feel the claws digging into him. Instead, he looked down and saw the claws shatter before there was a flash and Theo was suddenly on the other side of the room with Isaac standing over him.

“I got a text from Danny. What did I miss?” He asked nonchalantly. 

Derek walked back in and looked over what was left of his loft. Stiles walked over to him and took his hand.

“Hey, we’re all okay. Everything else can be replaced.” Derek nodded.

“Dude!” Isaac shouted out, “You’re holding his hand and you aren’t dead!” Stiles and Derek both smiled sheepishly in response.

“I’m going to call my dad to he can arrest Theo and Kate.” Stiles said. He reached into his pocket and realized his phone was still missing. When he looked up to ask if he could borrow one, he noticed Lydia still in a trance.

“Is she okay?” He asked.

“She is, but someone else isn’t.” Derek responded, “She screams and goes into a trance when someone is about to die. Won’t come out of it until the person passes.”

“That is dark.” Stiles stated.

Suddenly, Theo was up and launched himself at Stiles, but Derek got in between them. His skin turned grey and he started puking up black gunk. Everyone gave him a wide berth until they knew he was finally dead.

“I didn’t mean to.” Derek said, “I just wanted to protect you.”

“I know.” Stiles said before giving him a peck on the lips.

“You kissed him!” Isaac yelled.

“Wait, Derek and Stiles kissed and I didn’t get to see it happen?” Erica yelled from the floor in outrage.

Once everything was sorted about Derek and Stiles’ love life, Stiles finally got a phone and called his dad. He sent some deputies to the old Hale house to apprehend Kate and he went to the loft with a few deputies and CSIs to collect statements, evidence, and the body.

“I’m glad you’re okay, Son.” The Sheriff said as he pulled Stiles into a hug. He then gave Derek a stern look, “Now what’s this I hear about you and my boy being able to touch?”

Derek paled and Stiles laughed, “I guess I’m invulnerable even to him.”

“Well he isn’t invulnerable to my bullets, so no funny business. No more nights at the loft.”

“Dad! I’m already eighteen! It’s not like anything we could do would be illegal.” Stiles protested.

“Yes, but you are still in high school and living under my roof. No sex.” He gave Stiles a stern look and he responded with his signature ‘I won’t let you find out’ look.

“Fine.” The sheriff relented, “I don’t want to hear or see anything. Now, your statements.”

A few hours later found them all at the sheriff’s house with celebratory pizza. The celebration was ‘we didn’t die today!’ Stiles and Derek were curled up together on the loveseat. Since finding out that Stiles was immune, Derek had barely let go of Stiles; always maintaining some form of skin to skin contact and Stiles couldn’t blame him for it. The man had gone nine years without truly touching another living thing, so a little clinginess now was perfectly understandable. In fact, Stiles kind of relished the attention and closeness. As much as he loved his relationship with Derek before, being able to have this physical closeness was like finding the missing puzzle piece.

The pack was distracted by the movie that was playing (finally Star Wars) and Stiles snuggled deeper into Derek’s side before whispering, “I love you.”

He could see the corner of Derek’s mouth twitch into a smile, “I love you, too.”

And Stiles was content in this little bubble. He had a home, friends who were more like family, and the man of his dreams. Nothing could ruin this day.

He heard the front door open and shut signaling his dad’s return from the station.

“Got everything squared away, Pops?” Stiles asked, not moving from his position next to (on) Derek.

“I’m afraid I have some bad news.” The sheriff said. Lydia paused the movie and they all turned to look at the man, “The deputies who went to the Hale house didn’t find Kate. She’s still at large.”

Stiles expected to feel upset by this news or at least surprised, but he wasn’t. Kate wouldn’t attack again so soon, especially without backup. They had at least a year until her next attack, although last time she had a resting period of nine years (that they are aware of), so for now, Stiles was going to enjoy his new life. There were always going to be hunters looming, but Stiles was determined to not let them get to him.

“We also took a look at the lab Theo and Kate went to.” His father continued, “Derek, I think you will want to see this.” He passed a file over to the man.

“Oh my god!” Derek gasped.

The pack and the sheriff all got in their cars and drove to the lab. Jordan was a little behind them because he had to go home and suit up and to get the police van. There needed to be more of a police presents than just the sheriff to make this official.

Once they all arrived they walked in and what they saw was horrifying. Dozens of supers were trapped in too small cages and looked very malnourished and dirty, like no one had deemed them worthy of being taken care of. The pack walked through, opening the cages while the sheriff and Jordan got their statements and asked if there was anyone they could call.

Derek and Stiles kept their eyes out for three specific cages, for the three survivors of the fire; Derek’s sisters, Laura and Cora, and their uncle, Peter.

“I think I found one!” Scott shouted from the other end of the room. Derek went running and Stiles followed. The cage was marked “wolf” and inside was a dark-haired woman who was a few years older than Derek.

“Laura.” He heard Derek whisper.

“The others are here.” Stiles said, giving Derek’s hand a squeeze, “We’ll find them. We’ll bring your family home.”


End file.
